Institute of the Estonian Language

KNAB: Place Names Database

2013-07-28

Syriac / ‫ ܣܘܪܝܝܐ‬Sūryâyā
romanization: BGN/PCGN 2011 with KNAB extensions

I. Consonant characters

1 ‫ܐ‬ ’,ā,ē 9 ‫ܛ‬ ṭ 17 ‫ܦ‬ pA

2 ‫ܒ‬ bA 10 ‫ܝ‬ y,ī 18 ‫ܨ‬ ṣ
3 ‫ܓ‬ gA 11 ‫ܟ‬ ‫ܟܟ‬ kA 19 ‫ܩ‬ ‫ܩܩ‬ q
4 ‫ܕ‬ dA 12 ‫ܠ‬ ‫ܠܠ‬ l 20 ‫ܪ‬ r
5 ‫ܗ‬ h 13 ‫ܡ‬ ‫ܡܡ‬ m 21 ‫ܫ‬ ‫ܫܫ‬ sh
6 ‫ܘ‬ w,ū 14 ‫ܢ‬ ‫ܢܢ‬ n 22 ‫ܬ‬ tA
7 ‫ܙ‬ z 15 ‫ܣ‬ ‫ܣܤ‬ s
8 ‫ܚ‬ ḥ 16 ‫ܥ‬ ‘
A
“Soft” variants of these characters: ‫ ݂ܒ‬v, ‫ ݂ܓ‬gh, ‫ ݂ܕ‬dh, ‫ ݂ܟ‬kh, ‫)( ݂ܦ‬
 f, ‫ ݂ܬ‬th.

II. Vowel characters (‫ ܒ‬stands for any consonant character)

W E 4  ê 8  o
1    a 5 
 é 9 
u
2   â 6  i 10 
 ū
3   e 7   ī

Notes
1. Syriac script is represented by three styles: Classical or Estrangelo (‫ ܐܣܛܪܢܓܐܠ‬esṭrangelā)
and two newer styles, Serto or Western (  serṭā or  pshīṭā) and Eastern Syriac
( madhnḥâyā or  swâdhâyā). Table I gives the consonants in Estrangelo, Table II
gives the vowels in Western and Eastern varieties, as in Estrangelo vowel points are rarely
used. For a comparative table of consonants in three styles see a table at the end.
2. Syriac script is used to write Aramaic, Classical Syriac and its modern descendant,
Modern Syriac (more precisely Assyrian and Chaldean Neo-Aramaic).
3. The script runs from right to left. Some characters have several shapes depending on the
position in a word (initial, final, independent). Table I shows some characters combined
with the same character (e.g. No. 11 kk), to indicate the different shapes.
4. Vowels are usually marked by matres lectiones (‫ ܐ‬/ālap/, ‫ ܝ‬/yōd/, ‫ ܘ‬/wāw/) or by dots
under or above the character (in Serto also by special signs); vowel points are often
omitted. (The romanization of vowels in the table is adapted from ALA-LC, not


BGN/PCGN.) Examples of vowel points: Western   → īda‘,   → iyâlā, 

→ kul, 
  
→ meṭul,  → hâlén,  → bét, Eastern   → aprém.
5. The character ‫( ܐ‬ālap) has a number of functions:
a. it appears word-initially to denote a vowel, or a long ī or ū, if followed by yōd or
wāw; romanized by ’ (‫ܐܝܙܓܕܐ‬ ̈ → ’īzg"adē) if followed by ī, o, ū;
b. it appears word-medially to denote a historical glottal stop, romanized by ’
(‫ → ܡܐܡܪܐ‬mi’mrā), or a long vowel ā or ē (‫’ → ܐܝܣܪܐܝܠ‬Īsrāyel);
c. it appears word-finally to denote a long ā or ē (‫ → ܣܘܪܝܐ‬Sūryā).

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6. Part of Syriac consonants may be divided into “hard” (‫ ܩܘܫܝܐ‬qūshayā) and “soft” or
fricative (‫ ܪܘܟܟܐ‬rūkakhā) consonants; the first group is marked by a dot above, the second
– by a subdot: ‫ ݁ܒ‬b, ‫ ݁ܓ‬g, ‫ ݁ܕ‬d, ‫ ݁ܟ‬k, ‫ ݁ܦ‬p, ‫ ݁ܬ‬t; ‫ ݂ܒ‬v, ‫ܓ‬ ݂ gh, ‫ ݂ܕ‬dh, ‫ ݂ܟ‬kh, ‫ ݂ܦ‬f, ‫ ݂ܬ‬th. In the second
group, the BGN/PCGN system distinguishes only th. In international romanization the
characters are marked by an underline. These signs are often omitted, esp. when vowel
points are added.
7. In foreign words of Eastern Syriac the following characters with a tilde (  majliyânā)
are used:  j [dʒ], ! ch [tʃ], "# zh [ʒ], $" zh [ʒ].
8. Is some words the diaeresis (seyame) denotes a plural stem: ‫ → ̈ܡܠܟܐ‬m"alkē.
9. A line above denotes that the character is not pronounced: ‫ → ̄ܗܘܝܐ‬h^wâyā, ‫ܐܬܐ‬ ̄ → ’^tā.
 
10. The consonants are not doubled:  → qaṭel, ! "#  → zadīqā.

Comparative table of Syriac styles

Estrangelo Western Eastern

‫ܐ‬   ’,ā,ē
‫ܒ‬   b
‫ܓ‬ $ g
‫ܕ‬ "  d
‫ܗ‬  % h
‫ܘ‬  w,ū
‫ܙ‬ # # z
‫ܚ‬ % & ḥ
‫ܛ‬ & ' ṭ
‫ܝ‬  y,ī
‫ܟ‬ ‫ܟܟ‬ ' ( ! () k
‫ܠ‬ ‫ܠܠ‬ ) * * +, l
‫ܡ‬ ‫ܡܡ‬ + , -  m
‫ܢ‬ ‫ܢܢ‬ - . . / n
‫ܣ‬ ‫ܣܤ‬ / 0 0 1 s
‫ܥ‬  2 ‘
‫ܦ‬ 1  p
‫ܨ‬ 2 3 ṣ
‫ܩ‬ ‫ܩܩ‬ 3 4 4 56 q
‫ܪ‬ 5 7 r
‫ܫ‬ ‫ܫܫ‬ 6 78 $ 89 sh
‫ܬ‬ 9 : t

Sources
1. Romanization system for Modern Syriac script. BGN/PCGN, http://earth-
info.nga.mil/gns/html/romanization.html, 2012-10-04.
2. Syriac. — ALA-LC Romanization Tables, http://www.loc.gov/catdir/cpso/roman.html,
2012-10-04.
3. Syriac alphabet. — Wikipedia, en.wikipedia.org, 2012-10-04.

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